A Promise To A Brother
by N0raDrake
Summary: After Dick's death, Jason finds out that a new mob boss has filed a kill order for Timothy Drake. And it's up to Jason to keep his promise to his older brother. Warnings: Jason's pouty mouth and just Jason in general.
1. Chapter 1

**So this is set sometime after Dick's death, in some alternate universe on some alternate Earth where Tim is skeptic of Jason.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **PS.: Ezeron Reconski is NOT a real character. I made him up. ~~**

* * *

It was one o'clock in the afternoon and Tim had just finished up a very successful WE meeting and he was in a good mood.

He had unlocked and opened the door to his penthouse apartment and was planning to take the rest of the day off, refill his mug of coffee, and finish up some patrol reports. At night he would become Red Robin and crash an illegal smuggling gang he'd been tailing a week prior to today - a fairly new organization that'd managed to worm its way into Gotham without angering any of the other usual large mob groups. Tim suspected they were linked to the old mob boss Ezeron Reconski, but he still needed to follow up on that.

However, his plan for the rest of the day was all but thrown out the window when he found Jason, clad in his Red Hood costume (save for his helmet), lounging comfortably in his living room, legs kicked up on his coffee table (which was cluttered with papers and files), and practically bleeding all over his couch.

Tim halted a few meters away from his older brother and stared at him, completely surprised and half-wondering how he'd managed to pass all his security systems. Jason, having heard his entrance into the room, craned his head to the side and raised a hand in greeting.

"Hey."

Tim blinked. "Hi." he answered back. He dropped his work satchel next to the doorway and cautiously rounded the couch to fully face Jason. He raised an eyebrow at Jason's shoulder, which had blood sluggishly seeping through the ripped Kevlar and staining his leather jacket.

"What happened?" He asked, crossing his arms.

"Ever heard of Ezeron Reconski?"

Tim nodded. "He and his gang have been a regular appearance on Gotham's streets. Moved his operations to Bludhaven a few years ago." Tim bit his lip. "Nightwing took care of him."

He shook his head and tilted it thoughtfully. "I was actually going to try and crash him tonight. I think he's got a new gang in Gotham." He gestured to Jason's shoulder. "Is he the reason why you have a bullet wound in your shoulder?"

"Yup, that's right, Replacement."

"You decided to hit his gang up in broad daylight?"

"I was in the area."

"And why exactly were you on this side of town?"

"I was meeting up with an old informant."

Tim sighed and uncrossed his arms, not even going to try and question who this 'old informant' was. "I'll get the first aid kit."

As Tim made his way over towards the bathroom for the first aid kit, he began to rearrange his day's whole schedule. He'd have to save his reports for another time. He wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing that Jason had gotten to Reconski first, but it was one item off his list, and he was grateful for that.

But there was only one thing that bothered him.

It was the simple fact that Jason had decided to come to _his_ home out of all the safehouses and places he's got in Gotham. Sure, it's been a couple of years since Jason last tried to kill him, and they're relationship _has_ gotten better, but that didn't explain why Jason felt so comfortable to stroll into his apartment in the light of day and ask for his first aid kit.

Especially since he was wounded, which left him vulnerable and easy to attack. Things didn't add up and that left Tim on edge.

When he came back, Jason had already taken off his leather jacket and kevlar for him to properly attend to his shoulder.

Before Tim approached him however, he pointed at his brother's gun belt. "Guns off. And no gadgets or explosives."

Jason complied without a word and his guns, belt, and other weapons were soon promptly tossed into a corner of the room. Feeling at least a little better, Tim tentatively crouched down next to Jason and began to tend to his shoulder.

"Lucky shot?" he asked, examining the wound.

"Stupid guy pulled a gun on me last minute."

Tim hummed as he worked. "Well, the bullet passed through. And the bleeding's slowing. You'll be fine in a week or two."

He quickly disinfected and dressed the wound, before patching it up. Satisfied with his work, Tim began to clean up and put everything back into the first aid kit.

He stood up and walked out of the room to return the box to the bathroom, knowing fully well that by the time he got back to the living room, Jason would be out the window and long gone. But when he came back, Jason was still sitting on his couch and hadn't moved an inch.

Tim immediately knew something was amiss and his senses again heightened.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

He glanced around quickly to register that Jason's weapons were still tucked safely away in the corner of the room and that his brother hadn't planned on picking any of them up. That was a relief. So Jason hadn't gone for his weapons.

There was a long silence before Jason spoke.

"I staked Reconski's gang out before I dropped in and busted them up. Managed to pick up on some new information." Jason turned his head to look at Tim. "I think Reconski issued a kill order for you."

Tim pressed his lips in a firm straight line with an expression of indifference on his face. "We're Bats. Kill orders and bounties over our heads isn't exactly new information, Jason."

"No, Replacement, I mean, _Tim Drake_. Reconski declared a kill order for Tim Drake."

Tim stared at Jason, and his mind immediately put the pieces together. His eyes widened.

He started to back away Jason. "If you're here to kill me-"

" _What?_ " Jason abruptly stood and whirled around to fully face him. "You think I'm here to _kill_ you?" His voice seemed to be lined with an emotion akin to rage.

Tim flinched at the sudden outburst and he felt blood rushing towards his cheeks. "I-, well, you said-"

"I said there was a kill order on you, not that I wanted to kill you!"

"Jason-"

Jason stormed over to him, and Tim was about to bolt for his own gadgets and weapons when Jason stopped a foot away from him. Tim honestly forgot how tall his brother was because he was towering over him by a good five inches or so.

"Look," Jason breathed, emerald-green eyes flaring. "If I really wanted to kill you, you'd already be _dead_. I came here to get patched up and give you a heads up. That's _all_."

Tim returned his glare. "If you just came here to get patched up, you'd already be gone by now. And if you wanted to warn me, you could've done it over the comms, I know you know my channel. And don't think I don't have the right to question your resolve for coming here; you've already tried to kill me once or twice before."

"Goddamnit, Tim, I'm not here to kill you!"

"If you aren't, than why are you still here? You obviously stayed for a reason!"

Jason slammed the side table next to Tim, nearly making the teen jump. "I came here to make sure you were alright, _okay?!_ The men in the gang were talking about invading your place tonight, and I wanted to make sure they weren't planning on hiding a fucking bomb in here or something else fucked-up outside your door!"

Tim shot him a incredulous look. "Do you expect me to believe that? You wanted to make sure I was _fine?_ "

"Yes, Tim! Is that so hard to believe?"

Jason buried his face in his hands and shook his head, attempting to gain control of his ragged breathing, which left Tim gazing at him in disbelief.

"I know I fucked up, _a lot_ , and I tried to kill you more times than I'd like to admit, but you see... D-Dick made me promise."

Tim nearly choked at the mention of their deceased brother's name.

Jason shakily continued. "He made me promise that'd if anything happened to him or Bruce, I'd step up and... and check up on you guys. You and Damian."

"Jason-"

"That'd I-I'd be the... big brother. Because I'm the second oldest."

Jason blinked rapidly, face flushed as if he was embarrassed, but managed to lock his eyes on Tim's. Tim felt his own eyes begin to water and quickly looked away, wanting instantly to curl up in a ball and die.

 _Dick_... The world always seemed like it was crashing down whenever anybody brought up _his_ name. His eldest brother. The man who'd cared for Tim, the man who'd showered him with love and affection, the man who'd protected him during the most dangerous turn of events, and the man who'd showed him that he had a real family.

Also the same man who casted him out, broke his trust, and left him to search for their missing father alone while also letting him know that Tim wasn't immediately welcome back in the manor.

But despite all that, _after_ all that, after everything that had happened, from his father, from Bruce, from Damian... Tim still loved his brother.

So it _hurt_ , when he was told that Dick was dead. That he was beaten, tortured, unmasked, and _humiliated_ before Luthor got to him and suffocated him. Tim always painfully wondered during another sleepless night about what could've happened if he'd been there, if he could've saved his brother, if he could've _done something_.

And the guilt that hung over his shoulders every day had never gone away.

Now, standing face to face with Jason Todd, Tim finally came to the realization that not only him, but _Jason_ had been feeling the same way too. Grief, guilt, anger, regret. It all weighed down on their backs like sacks of concrete.

Jason took a deep breath and straightened up, trying desperately to regain his composure. Tim sought to follow and him and wiped irritably at the tear streaks that were staining his cheeks.

"Look, Tim," Jason slowly started again. "Dick made me promise that'd I'd look after the two of you, and since Damian doesn't need to be looked after anymore... the only person I need to... take care of is _you_."

Tim stared at him, swallowed, and then nodded, ducking his head shamefully. "Okay." He couldn't help the wet sob that tore through his throat. "I'm sorry..."

An awkward, but warm hug followed, surprisingly being initiated by Jason. Tim stiffened at the sudden physical contact, but soon relaxed into the embrace, and threw his arms around his brother.

Jason grunted at the new pressure on his injured shoulder, but didn't loosen his hold.

"I miss him." Tim found himself whispering into the crook of Jason's neck.

Jason's grip tightened. "I do too, Baby Bird. I do too."


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, so I know I put this story as complete, but I couldn't help it, okay?**

 **I love the brotherly relationship between Jason and Tim!**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Red Hood watched the busy streets and bright lights in the distance, making sure to stay in the shadows while also having a good view of the city.

He was hiding out on one of the roofs of one of the warehouses at the Gotham docks, waiting for the time Reconski's gang was going to show up. The docks of Gotham was supposedly where Reconski held his base of operations, and since Jason had busted them up pretty well this morning in the city, he suspected Reconski would have his gang abort mission and retreat to the docks by tonight.

After this afternoon's episode (which Jason preferred _not_ to think about right now), Tim had reluctantly agreed to allow Jason to team up with him to take Reconski down, even with a bad shoulder. It still hurt like hell, but Jason could still move it somewhat. He still had his dominant arm working in good condition though, and that was all he needed to make this night count.

Especially when he and Red Robin were going to infuriate the gang that had previously set up a kill order for Timothy Jackson Drake.

Half of him wondered why he'd shown up at Tim's apartment in the first place. It wasn't like one of his safehouses was just around the block, stocked with medical supplies, beer, and most importantly, isolated from all things living.

He could've just gone there. But something in him had stopped him.

When he'd overheard one of Reconski's men talking about their next target, and also overheard that said next target happened to be a certain Tim Drake, an odd and unfamiliar feeling had risen in his gut. The kind of feeling that made your heart race and your adrenaline skyrocket. It made your head buzz and all of your thoughts blur because all of a sudden, your mind was zeroing in on one question - _is he okay?_

Jason would never admit it out loud, but at that moment, he was immensely worried about his replacement.

And he cursed himself mentally for being so distracted, because after he'd taken the men down and was cleaning up quickly to go check on Tim, one of the men he'd forgotten to completely disarm suddenly pulled a gun on him and shot him in the shoulder.

After breaking the man's nose and making sure he was out cold, Jason had lugged himself seven blocks over to Tim's penthouse apartment, grappled his way to his brother's floor, broken the window's lock, and shut down the complicated security systems arming the place all so that he could find out that the apartment was completely vacant.

By that time he was too tired (and too worried) to do anything productive - like look for the first aid kit, for example - and had promptly passed out on the kid's couch until the rude jingle of keys and a door opening had woken him up.

And after that... well, Jason didn't want to think about it.

His brain was a jumbled mess and he was partially glad that he was back out at night as the Red Hood, about to topple over yet another evil organization. The night Gotham air - no matter how polluted and contaminated it was - never failed to clear his head.

He was about to check his stock on his weapons and ammo for the umpteenth time when the comm built into his helmet cracked to life.

 _"Red Robin to Red Hood. I've got eyes on them."_

"Location and status?" Jason immediately asked, shooting to his feet.

 _"There's ten of them, due east, marching from an alleyway entering the docks. All armed with automatics, but I can't tell what kind."_ Tim hesitated before continuing. _"I'm not that good with guns."_

"It's fine." Red Hood responded. He'd grappled past three warehouses already, and was about to swing sharply to the right to the east side of the docks.

 _"What confuses me is why are there so little of them? Did you really take out most of them, so that there's only ten left? Or are other groups coming in somewhere else? They shouldn't have that much people away from their base of operations just for a simple assassination."_ Jason had to give the kid props for having the nerve to critique the actions of his previously would-be assassinators.

Jason frowned at his inquiries. "Beats me." he said, leaping from another building to the next. "Maybe Reconski didn't want to take any chances? There's rumors going around that even though Tim Drake doesn't have any body guards, he's still pretty experienced in martial arts."

Tim hummed from the other line, but didn't seem convinced. Jason could practically see Tim's face scrunched up as the gears in his mind worked, eyebrows furrowed deep in concentration.

Jason didn't have time to ponder on Reconski's strange choices of enacting homicide anyway.

"I see them." he said quietly into his comm. He looked out, and watched as ten men with heavy, automatic, assault rifles scurried into the clearing of the docks where there was no warehouses, right next to the water. They were all muttering in low, gruff voices, typical for goons at their level.

 _"Are you sure you don't need backup?"_ Red Robin's voice filled his ear.

"I've got this." Jason answered. He glanced to his left, scanning over the rooftops of the other warehouses to spot any shape or form of Tim. He almost smirked when he didn't. Tim was always a master at keeping himself hidden.

"You just stay up there and watch me kick these guys' asses." Jason wouldn't deny that he was keeping his brother away, _safe_ , because he didn't want Reconski or his any of his men getting within an arm's length's reach of his brother, Red Robin or not.

He pulled his guns out of their holsters, holding back a wince as fire burned up his injured shoulder, before clicking the safety off. He aimed quickly and fired three shots. Each met their mark.

Three men out of the ten collapsed to the ground.

As panic erupted in the clearing as the remaining seven men frantically searched for their new attacker, Red Hood abandoned his vantage point from the warehouse rooftops and hid behind a couple of tall crates on the ground. He was reloading his guns when a sigh came from his comm.

 _"Please don't tell me you just killed those three guys."_

Jason smirked. "Maybe I did, maybe I didn't." The truth was, he didn't, and had just shot them with tranquilizer darts, and was now switching those darts for rubber bullets in his guns.

He hadn't killed in months to be entirely honest, but he didn't need to tell his replacement that.

Tim sighed again. _"Just be careful."_ he said. _"Red Robin out."_

Jason smirked again. "You too." he said, though Tim couldn't hear him.

He twirled the guns in his hands out of habit, wincing a little as he forgot his shoulder, and bounded up the stack of crates he was behind. Observing the panic that was now below him, he took a deep breath and jumped down, guns locked, loaded, and ready.

Jason managed to take three more men down during his drop into the fray; planting a bullet in one guy's thigh, another bullet in the second guy's gut, and the last bullet into the third guy's shoulder. Jason grinned as the third guy screeched in pain and dropped his gun, holding his newly-bleeding shoulder.

 _Payback's a bitch._

Twisting mid-air to land on the ground in a roll, Jason swept another unsuspecting man's feet, effectively making him slam his head onto the cold concrete with an audible _crack!_ The remaining three men rose their guns to fire at their now visible target, and Jason flung a batarang at the one in front of him before whipping around to shot at the two behind him.

With a pained shriek echoing across the docks, Jason counted the man behind him out of commission.

He managed to nick one of the two guys in front of him in the arm before he had to move to avoid a rapid spray of armor-piercing bullets.

With no cover close by, Red Hood had to make his own. He quickly rolled away from another spray of bullets and slipped a few small smoke pellets out of his belt, throwing them down to disorientate the two men. Then under the cover of the smoke, he knocked them out and had them both in zip-ties as soon as the smoke cleared.

Work accomplished, Jason grinned and lifted a finger to his comm.

"You see that?"

 _"Yes, I did. I'm surprised you didn't use explosions."_ came Red Robin's sarcastic voice, and Jason chuckled as he imagined the younger man rolling his eyes.

"Nah, these guys weren't worth it." Jason said. He kicked away all of the guns in the reach of every single man, and produced some more zip-ties from his belt.

"How's everything on your end? Spotted the mob boss himself yet?" Jason asked.

 _"No, everything seems pretty clear."_

"Huh. Weird." A man groaned in pain as Red Hood tethered his wrists too tight. Jason noted dimly that his fingers were stained with crimson, and just beneath his thigh there was a small pool of blood. "Hold up, I've got a man awake here. I'll interrogate him."

 _"You want me to come down?"_

"Save your energy. This will be over in a jiffy." Jason declined the offer swiftly.

He finished tying up all the unconscious men, before returning back to the man who was awake, who was now curling up as much as possible around his bleeding thigh.

Jason harshly nudged the man with his boot. "Hey."

The man moaned in response.

Jason crouched down next to him and the man flinched violently away. Jason scowled. "I'm going to ask you some questions and you better answer them to the best of your knowledge."

The man glanced up at him. "Y-you're going to kill me, m-man!" he gestured shakily to the wound in his thigh. Then he pointed at Jason. "I thought you Bats don't kill!"

Red Hood growled and slapped the man's hand away, earning another violent flinch from him. He held up a gloved finger. "Okay, number one," he pointed at the man's thigh. "that particular shot is _not_ fatal. And number two," he tapped his chest. "just because I wear this symbol, doesn't mean I don't kill. I'm the _special_ one."

The man whimpered.

"And number three," Jason jabbed a finger at the man. "You are going to answer _all of my questions_."

"B-But h-he'll kill me if I say a-anything!"

Jason scoffed. "Who, Reconski? Please. If you don't answer me," he pulled out one of his guns from its holster and cocked it. "you'll suffer the same fate. So start. _Talking_."

The man whimpered again at the gleam of the loaded gun. He took a shuddery breath. "W-what'dya wanna know?"

"I want to know why you were going after Timothy Drake." Jason found himself blurting out before even giving it a second thought.

"I-I don't know, man! Boss j-just said so, so w-we followed! Please, don't shot me!"

Jason frowned. "Are you sure? Is it because he owns two of the largest companies in the world? Or is it because you all are blood-thirsty bastards who wanted to have some fun, and just so happened to think targeting him was a good idea?"

"I told you, I d-don't know, I swear!"

Red Hood blew out a breath. Damnit. This guy didn't know anything.

He nudged the man with his gun. "Okay then. Are there anymore of you?" he waved a hand at the heaps of men around them.

The man nodded. "Y-Yeah! Boss s-split us into t-ten even groups, you see? He t-transported five groups of us to G-Gotham, though, f-for the m-mission."

Jason tilted his head. "So there are five groups of ten in Gotham?"

"Y-Yes, that's right. But o-one group was cr-crashed, I think. I d-don't know, Boss ordered a retreat after t-that."

Jason twiddled his gun. "And do you know where these other three groups are, since the other two groups, which includes yours, were crashed toady?"

"Th-They were supposed to m-meet us here, sir."

Jason swore under his breath. So Tim was right. There had to be more groups showing up here tonight. He stole a wayward glance at the rooftops in a futile attempt to spot his brother. Of course, he didn't see anything.

Clenching his teeth, he grounded out another question. "Is Reconski here or in Bludhaven?"

"I-I don't know, sir. I've n-never seen him a-around before."

Drawing in a breath, Jason stood up and pretended not to notice the man flinch at the sudden movement.

"Thanks for the info." Red Hood said, turning on his heel towards the warehouses and holstering his gun. "I'm done with you."

The man didn't have the time to respond when Jason whirled around and threw a tranquilizer dart at his neck. The man slumped immediately.

With a huff, Jason glanced at the man's thigh to make sure he wouldn't bleed out, and with the confirmation that he wouldn't in a couple of hours, Jason continued to check the other men. All had gained some substantial injuries, but none which proved fatal and didn't need to be patched up right away.

Jason patted himself mentally on the back for how efficient he was and was about to start dragging the mens' pitiful forms behind some crates when he remembered about Tim.

Raising a hand to his comm, he called him out in a more frantic tone than he'd intended to let on.

"Red Hood to Red Robin. You there?"

 _"Yup. Something wrong?"_ his little brother's voice came back.

Jason half-wanted to sigh in relief, and half-wanted to curse himself for sounding so worried. "Nothing." he answered. He punted a stray bullet shell across the clearing and watched it skit across the concrete and roll into the darkness. "Anything on your end? I'm done interrogating."

 _"Not a thing."_ Red Hood didn't miss the slight disappointment in Red Robin's voice. _"What'd you find out?"_

"Nothing much. Guy didn't know what the hell was going on, typical low-level goon. They're supposed to be three more groups heading this way tonight, though."

 _"I didn't see anything. Is Reconski with them?"_

"The guy didn't know about that either. Reconski has a hundred men split into ten groups, half of them in Gotham, half of them in Bludhaven. There's a 50% chance he'll be here."

Red Hood grappled up to a rooftop and continued. "I'll meet you at your-"

 _"Hold up!"_

Jason froze at the sound of Tim's sudden call for a halt, immediately alert. _"I see three groups, well actually one, but they're combined together with what looks likes thirty men. They're moving slowly, though, at the west side of the docks. All armed."_

Red Hood turned towards the west, scouring the warehouses for any signs of the newly-reported and advancing hoard. "Are they coming towards the clearing?"

 _"Seems like it. Want me to meet you at the main warehouse?"_

"Yes." The word flew out of his mouth before he could even think.

 _"Okay. Red Robin out."_

Red Hood swore as he eyed the west side of the docks, before he started to dash off towards the main warehouse, which was at the center of the docks near the clearing.

He tried to ignore his rapidly-pounding heart as he shot off his grapple and swung towards the location to meet Tim.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't keep Tim out of this fight. The kid wouldn't have it if Jason tried to send him back home under the silly assumption that Reconski knew his identity.

Jason gritted his teeth.

Reconski wasn't going to allow him to keep his little brother away from him after all. That _damn bastard_.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jason could see heavily-armed men start to file into the clearing, and Jason immediately regretted not dragging the bodies of the men he'd previously taken out into a secluded area.

Goddamnit. Goddamnit all.

Jason was tired of playing the role of big brother.

As he flew towards the main warehouse, ignoring the scream of protest his shoulder gave him, and he found himself again silently missing his older brother. He never gave much thought into how much time and effort it took to protect someone, and wondered how Dick managed to keep up with watching _all three_ of his brothers, himself included.

In the back of his mind, Jason wondered how much of a pain he was to handle. He shut his eyes momentarily, guilt gripping his heart.

 _I'm trying, Dick. I really am._


End file.
